BuzzFeed NYC Holiday Party Becomes a Covid Superspreader Event, Several Employees Infected: Insider

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Several BuzzFeed staffers have been infected with Covid-19 following the company’s Holiday party in Manhattan last week, according to a report from Insider.

Three BuzzFeed employees who tested positive following the party told Insider that they were vaccinated and received their booster shots prior to contracting Covid-19 at the event, and are experiencing mild symptoms.

The outbreak also comes as Covid-19 cases have risen in New York City due to the Omicron variant.

BuzzFeed has reportedly strengthened Covid-19 protocols following the party and amid the surge of cases in New York City, including putting a temporary freeze on group meetings over six people, requiring masks in the office until further notice, and freezing all non-essential business travel until the new year.

The company is also conducting contact tracing, as well as offering free testing for close contacts.

The party, held on Dec. 10 at the Starrett-Lehigh building in Manhattan, was attended by employees from BuzzFeed’s New York and Washington offices, in addition to employees from HuffPost, which BuzzFeed acquired last year.

One of the positive staffers told Insider that they became aware that they had been exposed after BuzzFeed’s in-house contact tracing team notified them that they had been in contact with a positive case.

“The communication referenced that the contact might have been at BuzzFeed’s New York office, the holiday party, or at a group gathering in Los Angeles the prior weekend,” added Insider’s Steven Perlberg. “Another of the COVID-positive employees estimated that there were about 10 cases they knew of. This staffer said they were aware of five or six other staffers who currently feel sick and are awaiting test results.”

BuzzFeed’s head of global real estate, office services, and security, reportedly sent an email to employees on Thursday, writing, “With COVID positive cases rising across the US, we now have a number of known full-time and freelance employees who have tested positive in recent days.”

The email went on to say that staffers who had close contact with a positive case were able to take a same-day PCR test at the BuzzFeed offices in New York or Los Angeles, while those not located near an office could get the cost of their tests reimbursed by the company.

“BuzzFeed requires vaccinations for staffers, and partygoers had to present their vaccination cards to get into the event,” Perlberg reported, noting that CEO Jonah Peretti was in attendance. “Two days before the party, BuzzFeed updated its rules to require masks ‘unless you are actively eating or drinking.'” 

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com